Galvan rated ISAT a buy at 695p on 11/2/2011 when Harbinger Capital Partners sold its remaining 14% stake in Inmarsat.

StockMarketWire.com
Inmarsat has announced a strategic partnership with Deutsche Telekom to bring unprecedented passenger connectivity to Europe's aviation industry and its customers.

A new innovative, combined satellite network and LTE-based ground network will deliver travellers in Europe the advantage of in-flight high-speed Internet access when in the air.

Airlines will benefit from a cost efficient and high speed, high capacity connectivity solution.

Inmarsat and Deutsche Telekom are working together to develop the European Aviation Network, seamlessly combining satellite connectivity from a new Inmarsat S-band satellite with an LTE-based ground network, operating in the same frequency band, developed and run by Deutsche Telekom.

The connectivity platform developed by Inmarsat and Deutsche Telekom has been designed specifically to meet the growing needs of passengers travelling across Europe, which includes some of the highest density air-traffic routes in the world.

It provides a long-term solution with abundant capacity, speed and coverage to equal an at-home high-speed broadband customer experience while aboard an airplane.

StockMarketWire.com
Inmarsat is reiterating its guidance for 2015 with group revenue for the full year expected to be in the range of $1,250m to $1,300m, including revenue of $70m expected to be received from LightSquared during the full year.

Capex for the full year is expected to be in the range of $450m - $500m.

Inmarsat is today hosting a capital markets day for investors and analysts at its offices at 99 City Road, London EC1. The event will run from 8.30 a.m. until approximately 12.30 p.m. and will focus on business strategy and operations, including presentations by chief executive Rupert Pearce and chief financial officer Tony Bates and the heads of Inmarsat's five business units.

The company will discuss the approach it will take to future financial guidance. No material new information is being made available today.

The capital markets day is being web-cast on www.inmarsat.com and the presentation slides available for download.

StockMarketWire.com
Global mobile satellite communications services provider Inmarsat has signed a contract to provide high-speed inflight connectivity services for passengers onboard Lufthansa's European continental fleet. The contract, which follows the memorandum of understanding announced between Inmarsat and Lufthansa last month, formalises not only a 10 year strategic partnership between Lufthansa Group and Inmarsat, but also provides a contract framework to extend the service to the other airline brands in the group.

Under the agreement, Inmarsat will equip more than 150 Lufthansa airlines aircraft with Global Xpress (GX), with additional Lufthansa Group aircraft being added in due course. The first of these aircraft will be equipped and tested in early summer 2016. Lufthansa will additionally be trialling the European Aviation Network in 2017.

StockMarketWire.com
Satellite communications services provider Inmarsat is on track after a solid third quarter bolstered by its aviation division.

Total revenues rose to $323.1m (2014: $300.6m) with maritime up $2.6m to $150.2m (+1.8%); government up $0.9m to $77.2m (+1.2%); enterprise down $1.2m to $39.7m (-2.9%); aviation up $11.9m to $32.6m (+57.5%) and $17.9m from LightSquared (2014: $9.8m).

Wholesale Mobile Satellite Service (MSS) revenues rose to $213.7m, up 11.3% (2014: $192.0m) and total EBITDA increased to $180.2m (2014: $166.0m).

Chief executive Rupert Pearce said: "We delivered solid growth in the quarter, across our business. In Maritime, higher FleetBroadband and XpressLink revenue off-set the continuing decline in legacy services, enabling a resumption of growth. A number of new contracts in the US and other government markets allowed us to report growth in our Government business for the first time for several years. Enterprise experienced an Isatphone 2 manufacturing issue, now resolved. Aviation had another strong quarter, financially and strategically.

"The successful launch of I-5 F3 at the end of August means that we expect to introduce GX commercial services globally by the end of the year. This will be a key milestone for Inmarsat, enabling us to deliver the high-speed, high-volume seamless global service that customers want, and to start to build towards our medium-term revenue targets for GX.

"Our Aviation business also took two major steps forward, when we joined in a strategic partnership with Deutsche Telekom to develop the ground component of our European Aviation Network. We also signed an MOU with Lufthansa, which has now become a ten-year contract, to provide high-speed inflight connectivity services on board Lufthansa's European fleet.

"In the third quarter we therefore saw real progress across all three of the core elements of our strategy - L-band, GX, and aviation passenger connectivity - and we are confident that we can maintain this momentum in all of these areas of opportunity for Inmarsat."

StockMarketWire.com
Inmarsat's GX Aviation high-speed connectivity service is to be deployed by Singapore Airlines for passengers on-board its long-haul fleet. The services are procured by the airline from Inmarsat's partner SITAONAIR and will be powered by Honeywell's JetWave satellite communications hardware.

The first installation is scheduled for the second half of 2016, starting with Singapore Airlines' Boeing B777-300ER aircraft, which will be followed by its Airbus A380-800s and A350-900s.

Credit Suisse today reaffirms its outperform investment rating on Inmarsat PLC (LON:ISAT) and raised its price target to 1186p (from 1080p).

Barclays Capital today downgrades its investment rating on Inmarsat PLC (LON:ISAT) to underweight (from equal weight) and raised its price target to 1000p (from 740p).

StockMarketWire.com
Global mobile satellite communications services provider Inmarsat's total revenues were flat at USD1,274.1m in the year to the end of December (2014: USD1,275.1m).

EBITDA rose by 3.6% to USD726.0m but profit after tax fell to USD282.0m from USD341.1m.

Final dividend is up by 5.0% to 31.78 cents per share.

Chief executive Rupert Pearce said: "2015 has been another year of solid achievement during a period of transition as we bring our Global Xpress services to market and establish our new European Aviation Network. We have been equal to the challenges of some very difficult market conditions whilst putting in place the foundations for an exciting future with higher growth and a more diversified business.

"We successfully launched the second and third Inmarsat-5 Global Xpress Ka-band satellites in February and August 2015 respectively and in December we announced Global Commercial Service Introduction for Global Xpress. We now have the satellite platform in place to deliver a steadily growing material new revenue stream for the Group.

"We also made significant progress on our plans to develop a new aviation cabin connectivity opportunity globally. In Europe, we put in place a partnership with Deutsche Telekom for them to build the air-to-ground network that will be fully integrated with our S-band satellite programme to form the European Aviation Network, the world's first hybrid network for broadband connectivity to aircraft. We continued our efforts to secure necessary ground and satellite licences in all 28 EU member states and two further European countries, and now have 28 satellite authorisations in Europe and confirmations from 18 countries regarding ground-based licences. Our negotiations with individual airlines also continued, with notable deals for Global Xpress services being concluded with Deutsche Lufthansa and Singapore Airlines. I expect to be able to report further progress in this area in 2016 given continued strong customer interest.

"After adjusting for disposals, total Group revenues were unchanged on last year, driven mainly by growth in our revenues from Aviation, Enterprise and LightSquared but with continuing weakness in government expenditure across the globe. Maritime revenues were little changed, with strong growth in our two key products, FleetBroadband and XpressLink, continuing to be offset by decline in our non-core legacy product suite.

"EBITDA increased by $25m reflecting unchanged revenues but lower costs as the impact of improved product mix more than offset the additional costs incurred to deliver the new opportunities in Aviation and to support our new GX infrastructure. We will invest further in these areas over the coming years to maximise the longer term opportunities for growth."

Berenberg today upgrades its investment rating on Inmarsat PLC (LON:ISAT) to hold (from sell) and cut its price target to 890p (from 900p).

StockMarketWire.com
Inmarsat says Ligado Networks - formerly known as LightSquared - has elected for the 30 MHz option under the cooperation agreement between the two companies.

Inmarsat and Ligado Networks remain in discussion around the details of the plan and consequent change in payments.

Further details will be announced in due course.

Morgan Stanley note:
"Downgrade to Equal-weight: Despite a 33% YTD decline in the shares (offsetting +42% in 2015), we see: (1) 2018 revenue guidance as too ambitious. Management has already cut 2016 revenue guidance by 4%, but kept 2018 targets, and we expect these to be the next to fall away; and (2) Scope for earnings downgrades. We cut 2017-18 EPS forecasts by 18-22%.
Cutting estimates below guidance and consensus: Inmarsat targets revenue growth of 2% in 2016, but sees acceleration to 11-13% CAGR for 2017 and 2018. We think this looks too ambitious given pressure in the data business, with Eutelsat citing “slowing industry-wide growth”. The revenue uplift for Inmarsat relies on Global Xpress, predominantly in the maritime and government markets. In Maritime, in particular, we see 2 headwinds: (1) Recession in the global maritime market resulting in vessels being laid up or scrapped; (2) Increased competition in new growth markets, such as for cruise liners and oil & gas rigs (see O3b’s contract with Royal Caribbean). We still look for 8% mid-term revenue growth, but sit 8% below the mid-point of the 2018 revenue target.
PT cut to 800p driven by lower estimates and terminal growth. We think the market values the core satellite business at a P/E of 18x for 2017 and 16x for 2018 (considering 200p in value for Ligado Networks – formerly LightSquared). FSS peers trade on 15x 2018 earnings. We acknowledge that the Inmarsat multiple could come under pressure if further negative industry news were to materialise given the high expected growth built into forecasts (MSe +8% revenues, +21% EPS over 2016-18 CAGR).
What could go right: (1) New airline deals would be supportive. Indeed, the last agreement was in Nov 15 with Singapore Airlines for GX, and management says talks with other airlines are ongoing. (2) Launch of the 4th GX satellite is due in the latter part of 2016 and management will provide an update on guidance closer to the launch date. We assume $40mn of revenues in 2017, ramping up to $60mn in 2018 before reaching its steady run-rate of $100mn by 2019. (3) New acquisitions – management has not commented on the potential for new deals, but we note that M&A has been a strategy to boost growth in the past (eg, purchase of ShipEquip in 2011)."

StockMarketWire.com
SpeedCast International, one of the world's leading providers of high-speed broadband connectivity to the global maritime industry, has entered into an important strategic partnership with Inmarsat.

The agreement positions Inmarsat's new Fleet Xpress service, powered by the Global Xpress (GX) network, as a key service within its maritime services portfolio, being fully integrated with SpeedCast's existing maritime SIGMA gateway and other value added services. Over the next five years, SpeedCast has committed to roll out Fleet Xpress to approximately 2,000 vessels.

StockMarketWire.com
Inmarsat returned to growth in the second quarter, more than compensating for a soft first quarter.

Inmarsat said good revenue growth in Aviation, Government and Ligado Networks ('Ligado') outweighed weaker results in Maritime and Enterprise. Margins expanded in Q2 mainly reflecting an improved revenue mix and Sterling weakness.

Second quarter financial headlines:
- Total revenues up $19.0m (+6.1%) at $330.4m (Q2 2015: $311.4m)

* Maritime $0.7m lower at $146.6m (-0.5%)

* Government up $1.6m to $72.0m (+2.3%)

* Enterprise $1.9m lower at $38.5m (-4.7%)

* Aviation up $2.6m to $33.4m (+8.4%)

* Ligado Networks income up $18.0m at $35.5m (+102.9%)

- EBITDA up $36.3m (+21.9%) at $202.2m (Q2 2015: $165.9m)

- Profit after tax up $22.6m (+41.7%) at $76.8m (Q2 2015: $54.2m)

Half year headlines:

- Total revenues up $12.8m (+2.1%) at $629.0m (2015: $616.2m)

* Ligado Networks income up $18.4m to $53.4m (+52.6%)

- EBITDA up $25.7m (+7.5%) at $368.4m (2015: $342.7m)

Chief executive Rupert Pearce said: "We continue to compete aggressively and successfully in all of our core markets and to make solid progress with our long term GX and Aviation growth agendas.

"Strong customer interest for GX is evident in all of our Business Units. In Maritime, we secured three major strategic deals which will bring over 5,000 vessels to GX over the next five years. In Government the take up of GX is gaining traction with rising revenues and strong operational interest. In Aviation, whilst closing cabin connectivity deals is taking longer than we expected, we have continued to make further progress, competing strongly in ongoing airline tenders for passenger connectivity services and the build out of our European Aviation Network is running to plan. We are currently conducting a worldwide live demonstration of our GX Aviation services to major airlines, which has been extremely well-received. I therefore continue to be confident in the long term growth prospects for the Group.

"Nevertheless, our markets continue to be challenging and the outlook is becoming much harder to call as the macro economic environment worsens, new satellite capacity arrives driving prices lower, our new GX products launch and the Aviation passenger connectivity market becomes established.

"I was also pleased to be able to report at the end of Q1 that Ligado Networks had opted to take the 30 MHz option under our Cooperation Agreement. This agreement is expected to provide several hundred million dollars of value to our shareholders over the next three years.

"I am pleased to announce an increased interim dividend of 20.59 cents per share for 2016. With effect from this interim dividend, we will also be providing our shareholders with more choice through the option of a scrip dividend alternative."

Inmarsat also announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Inmarsat Government, has been issued modification P00001 to lift the stop-work order issued due to a bid protest filed on the initial award. Inmarsat Government remains the awardee on the single award indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract issued against solicitation HC1013-14-R-0004 announced Sept. 8, 2015.

This contract supports the U.S Navy's Commercial Broadband Satellite Program (CBSP) Satellite Services Contract (CSSC). The single award consists of a base one-year period with four one-year option periods through 2021. Under the contract, Inmarsat Government will support the U.S. Navy's requirement to acquire worldwide commercial telecommunication services, to include satellite capacity for mobile and fixed satellite transceivers on maritime, airborne and ground platforms, as well as CT services, backhaul connectivity, monitoring and control and operations. CSSC will augment government-owned and operated telecommunication systems, providing significant improvement in data throughput and capacity redundancy to military satellite communications to meet critical mission requirements.

And Navarino, one of the world's leading providers of satellite communications solutions to the merchant marine market, has entered into a new agreement with Inmarsat to integrate Fleet Xpress into Navarino's existing service portfolio. Through the agreement, Navarino will bring more than 1,200 vessels to the Fleet Xpress service over a six-year period.

StockMarketWire.com
Global mobile satellite communications provider Inmarsat has signed a contract to launch its S-band satellite for the European Aviation Network (on an Ariane 5 heavy lift launch vehicle.

The EAN payload is part of a 'condosat' constructed by Thales Alenia Space, which incorporates a second payload for Hellas-Sat. The condosat is scheduled to be launched from the Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana in mid-2017. The condosat was originally scheduled for launch with SpaceX. However, following the delay in SpaceX's launch schedule, Inmarsat and Hellas-Sat took the decision to move the condosat to an Arianespace launch.

StockMarketWire.com
Inmarsat has strengthend its relationship with Satlink Satellite Communications which has entered into a new agreement to integrate Fleet Xpress into its existing service portfolio.

Inmarsat said Satlink will bring more than 1,500 vessels to the Fleet Xpress service over a five-year period.

Inmarsat Maritime president Ronald Spithout said: "Satlink is a long-standing Inmarsat Maritime partner and we are delighted to further strengthen our relationship with this significant agreement.

"We are seeing an unprecedented uptake of the Fleet Xpress service since its launch last year, and by working with Satlink, we are able to extend our global reach and expertise to the market.

"The connected ship is no longer a concept, but now rapidly becoming a reality.

"With our, world-leading, high-speed broadband connectivity and a dedicated partner network, together we are revolutionising the industry and delivering tangible benefits in terms of vessel performance, driving operational efficiencies and improving the wellbeing of the crew."

Satellite communications company Inmarsat got a boost on Thursday as Macquarie upgraded the stock to ‘outperform’ from 'neutral' and gave it a target price of 850p, saying it may at an inflection point.

Macquarie said it can no longer ignore a potential takeout scenario given the strategic value of Inmarsat’s global Ka/L-band footprint, access to niche markets generating above-peer 5%+ 3-year compound annual growth rate and sizeable spectrum holdings.

In addition, it pointed out that the shares are trading at a 10% discount to peers or 7x 2018 earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation, which it reckons is enough to warrant a second look.

The bank also argued that while a guidance downgrade is likely on the 4Q16 call, consensus estimates for 2018 revenues are already below management’s long-term outlook, which looks baked into the price.

“4Q16 results will likely confirm what investors already suspected for a long time: the 2018 guidance issued in early 2016 is untenable amid delays in airline orders, regulatory approvals and sub mix headwinds in its bread and butter segment, Maritime.

“However, this may be more of a formality - consensus revenue expectations for 2018 have approached our $1.38bn estimate versus management’s $1.45-1.60bn outlook.”

Inmarsat revenues up 4.3%, beating expectations

Revenues at Inmarsat rose 7 per cent in the final quarter of the year and 4.3 per cent overall in 2016, beating analysts’ expectations as strong growth in the satellite telecommunications company’s government and aviation divisions outweighed a fall in maritime business.

Group revenue at the British company hit $1.329bn in 2016, ahead of expectations of $1.307bn, while earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation rose 9.5 per cent over the year to $794.8m and rose 9.2 per cent in the fourth quarter to $221.8m.Profit after tax took a hit, however, falling 23.9 per cent in the fourth quarter to $67.1m and 13.7 per cent over the year to $243.3m, driven by a rise in net financing costs.The company said it “remained confident” about the medium to long term outlook for the business but warned that its markets “continued to be challenging, with sustained pressure on customer expenditure, increasing competition and the arrival of new satellite capacity in some of our markets”. As a result, Inmarsat said there was “an unusually wide range” of possible outcomes for the performance of the business in 2017 and 2018, but made no changes to its guidelines for 2017 and 2018 revenue of $1.2-1.3bn and $1.3-1.5bn respectively and excluding an agreement with US wireless company Ligado.The company has been striking deals with major airlines such as Air New Zealand and British Airways to provide in flight wifi services as well as increasing government contracts. A key issue for Inmarsat has been whether in-flight broadband can grow enough to offset disappointing performance in its maritime division. Revenues in its aviation division were up 12.5 per cent over the year while government revenues rose 15.3 per cent. This helped to offset a fall in the maritime division – Inmarsat’s largest, accounting for two-fifths of revenues – of 3 per cent.The telecoms company has been the subject of takeover buzz recently, with shares rising in February after the head of US pay-television provider Dish Networks predicted sector consolidation. Analysts believe Dish sister company EchoStar is a logical potential buyer of Inmarsat.

Inmarsat plc reports First Quarter Results 2017

Performance Highlights
· Solid performance in Q1 2017, despite markets which continue to be challenging:
o Group revenue grew 11.3% to $332.2m, (grew 7.5% to $301.7m, excluding Ligado)
o EBITDA2 grew 9.2% to $181.5m (grew 1.8% to $151.0m, excluding Ligado)

· Outlook and future guidance, disclosed on 8 March 2017, remain unchanged

· Continued positive impact of Global Xpress ("GX"):
o GX delivered revenue of $32.1m in Q1 2017, mainly from Government customers
o Continue to expect launch of I-5 F4 satellite during Q2 2017

Maritime:
o Now over 10,000 vessels committed to Fleet Xpress ("FX")
o Distribution agreement signed with Satlink to install FX on over 1,500 vessels
o Resilient performance from FleetBroadband ("FB")

Government:
o Another strong performance, despite continued market uncertainty
o FirstNet contract win provides further validation of our strong US Government relationships

Aviation:
o Core business continued to grow, with over 16,500 connected terminals, and the first installations of JetConneX completed
o Further positive momentum achieved in in-flight connectivity ("IFC"), with 65 GX terminals installed by the end of the quarter, and over 950 expected aircraft under signed contracts
o Commitments to GX announced by AirAsia and Qatar Airways so far in second quarter, representing an additional 250 aircraft to utilise GX for IFC services
o On track for commercial service introduction of European Aviation Network ("EAN") during H2 2017, with launch of S-band satellite expected to take place by end of Q2 2017

Enterprise:
o Key end markets remain challenging, in particular Oil & Gas
o On-going focus on commercial opportunities around "Internet of Things"

Berenberg comment:
"We remain concerned about the Maritime declines and believe the company will find it tougher to return to growth than consensus expects. Enterprise has been significantly impacted by competition and for now remains in a downward spiral. It is our view that the easy-wins (eg Boeing take-or-pay) are now in the past and tougher comparables over the coming quarters, particularly within Maritime and Government, could highlight an underlying trajectory of slower, less profitable growth. Our 2018 EBITDA forecast sits 5% below consensus. We downgrade to Sell.

While the company has done a good job in lowering 2017 expectations, in our view, consensus estimates remain too high for future periods and we expect these to trend down over the coming months. Visibility remains low and on our estimates, given the lack of near-term earnings growth, the stock will still be trading on a blended P/E (includes 66% of Ligado opportunity) above 20x well into the next decade. We believe there needs to be increased visibility or a marked improvement in underlying trends to warrant such a high multiple. Our new lower DCF-based 710p price target offers 14% downside and we thus downgrade our recommendation to Sell."

Citigroup today (08/05/17) reaffirms its neutral investment rating on Inmarsat PLC (LON:ISAT) and set its price target at 770p

StockMarketWire.com
Inmarsat confirmed the successful launch of the fourth, high-speed broadband communications satellite in its transformational Global Xpress (GX) constellation.

The company said Inmarsat GX is the world's first globally available, broadband connectivity service. It was created to enable communities across the world to benefit from the emerging digital society.

Inmarsat-5 F4 (I-5 F4) was launched by SpaceX on a Falcon 9 rocket from the historic launch pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Following satellite separation, the company acquired telemetry from its Perth ground station.

The launch team from Inmarsat and Boeing Network & Space Systems, the manufacturer of I-5 F4, were raising the spacecraft to a geostationary orbit, at which point the satellite will deploy its solar arrays and reflectors, and undergo payload testing.

I-5 F4 joined the three GX satellites already in orbit. Since December 2015, these delivered unprecedented service speeds, global coverage, reliability and security to users on land, at sea and in the air.

The fourth satellite added further capacity to the GX network and in-orbit redundancy that further upgraded the reliability and resilience of Inmarsat's service offerings.